Transitioning from middle to high school at different levels

[The Girls' Mom]

If you have a middle schooler who is at different grade levels on different subjects, how do you transition over to high school?

 

My dd is on or slightly behind grade level in math. (she's come a long way since I pulled her from PS where she was over a year behind, yet was an A student) I'm thinking she'll pull on ahead in math over the next year or so. She is advanced in science, reading, history, etc. Anyway, we were considering starting her on high school work next year, a little early. How would you handle credits and transcripts? Would you just wait until everything was high school level before starting? We plan on year round schooling..following up with the next level whenever we finish one.

 

She had a late birthday, and if we stayed on PS track, she would be 18 for most of her senior year. She would love to be turning 18 just as she's finishing up her senior year, not at the beginning.

[Ruth in Canada]

We continued to consider our kids in the grade they would have been chronologically, but moved ahead in the fields they were ready for. DD, for example, did algebra I, geometry and two official on-line classes before she was chronologically in grade 9. Realistically, she also did advanced science and English, but that was harder to quantify and I just let it go. On the other end of this now, dd will have 6 university credits before she graduates. She would not have been mature enough, or clear enough on what she wants to do, to go to university a year early. I just put her early high school work on her transcript. I know that some US universities only want the most recent 4 years of work--but you'll probably have plenty for that anyway--or you can just leave off the dates.

[Brenda in MA]

when I made up his transcript, I did it by subject and not by grade or date. I did not mention what year he took each course, so I put all his high school level subjects on his transcript. He had enough high school credits to graduate early, but we chose not to go that route. Instead, he spent his last year at home (which I considered 12th grade) doing a couple of subjects at home, but taking most of his courses at the local community college.

 

This route was a good transition for him maturity & responsibility-wise, but still allowed him to apply to college as a freshman. He's living away at school this year and doing great. He was able to transfer his cc courses, so he'll be able to double major or minor if he wants too.

 

Homeschooling allows much flexibility to meet a child where he/she is at, and I just love that. Your dd is still quite young, and even though you/she may want to graduate "early" now, your plans (or hers) may change. I'd suggest just making sure you keep good records of any high school material she covers so that you can represent the work well on her high school transcript 4 or 5 years from now.

 

Now would also be a good time to look at a few colleges and check their course requirements against what you plan to teach. Also check your local school district's requirements. You may or may not need to exactly meet these, but I still think it's a good idea to know what they require, as local colleges may expect incoming students to have had certain courses.

 

If you don't have any idea where she might go to college, just pick a couple for a quick check -- a local public college/university and private college university would be good choices. Map out a plan for the next 4 (or 5) years so you know where she is headed. Once you get into the courses/sequences, you can make adjustments as your needs or her interests dictate, but at least you'll have an idea of the basics that she is trying to cover.

 

HTH,

Brenda

[Julie in MN]

In my experience with my oldest (public schooled), you just write the courses he took in high school on his transcript and the college will assume he took all the prerequisites in junior high. If they had any questions, I'm sure they'd ask. But my son took both Algebra 1 and Algebra 2 in junior hi, and was never asked why they weren't on his transcript. If the course is essential, they will go more by objective measures such as testing, community college grades, & later achievements than by transcript, in my experience.

 

Julie